“We don't have to tell him right away.” Drakon smirked. “We could keep this between the five of us and slowly ease him into it.”
“Into what?” Erastos looked from Drakon to me. “Are you saying what I hope you're saying.”
“Well, I am the Goddess of Hope.” I smirked.
“All of us?” Praxis gaped at me. “Truly?”
“Why not?” Drakon asked them. “There is no one here to ostracize us or criticize us. If we want to share one woman, what's to stop us?”
“Uh,Straton, as I said,” Akylas huffed.
“He'll come around,” Erastos murmured as he slid up to me. “To be with you, I would risk far more than Straton's wrath. The only reason I've held back till now is that Straton insisted that it would be an abuse of our power over you.”
“And he said we'd end up fighting after you picked one of us,” Praxis added.
“But if you're willing to be with us all,” Akylas said with a smile, “then his arguments hold no weight.”
Straton's footsteps on the stairs silenced us, and Drakon eased his hand out of mine. But the men smiled at me encouragingly, and I smiled back. My heart was pounding wildly in my chest with my excitement.
“This is for you,” Straton said as he walked over to me. He held out a short, slim sword in a sheath. “I'm proud of you, Pandora. You've only begun to train, and you've already defended yourself with skill and innovation.”
I accepted the sword with a sigh of pleasure. It was beautiful, with a silver handle engraved with flowers, and light in my hand. I unsheathed it and admired the thin but sharp blade.
“It's wonderful,” I whispered. “Thank you, Straton.”
“You've earned it.” Straton nodded.
“Where did you get that thing?” Drakon asked as he leaned closer to inspect the sword.
“Kadmos's hold. It was full of what appeared to be stolen property.” Straton grimaced. “It seems that the Captain wasn't just transporting Epimetheus's goods, he had a side business. I knew we'd need more weapons, so I commandeered a few pieces.”
“They're pirates?” Akylas growled. “And you didn't tell us?”
“It doesn't matter now.” Straton shrugged. “They are our enemies either way, and they've no one to pirate anymore.”
“That explains why they were so furious to be confined to this island,” I mused. “I can understand some anger, but their reactions were extreme.”
“That's true,” Straton agreed. “I hadn't thought of that.”
“Yes, the 'I'm going to kill you, you rancid bitch' was a bit much,” Erastos drawled.
We all stared at him a moment before we burst into laughter.
“What else did they have in their hold?” I asked Straton with a lifted brow.
“No,” he said, and then went even sterner when the others began to smile. “No; we are not going looking for trouble.”
“Please,” Praxis rolled his eyes, “it's an island, it's not like we can hide from it. Trouble finds us.”
“Might as well confront it first,” Drakon added.
“Dear gods, help us,” Straton murmured.
“Strat, we have a goddesswithus,” Akylas waved his hand toward me. “How can we possibly fail?”
Chapter Ten
The pirate ship–as we now knew it to be–was moored in Neverland's bay. The pirates had built a dock and a village of huts on shore, but there was always a skeleton crew guarding the ship. We surveyed it from a cliff above the harbor, and sent Tinker Bell closer, to get a better look. She reported back that there were three men on deck and two–that she could see from peering into portholes–below.
